It’s no wonder some people stare. Mandy’s legs are wider than the average man’s waist and heavier than most women.

Her left leg is five inches longer than her right and has a clubfoot, which has turned 180 degrees backwards. She says: “I weigh about 20 stone – 15 of which are my legs.”

She has never had a firm diagnosis, but it could be linked to Proteus syndrome, which causes abnormal skin and limb growth. John Merrick, the Elephant Man, is believed to have had it.

“I use an electric wheelchair when I go out,” says Mandy.

“I live alone and what takes the average person half an hour takes me an hour, if not longer. Just getting dressed in the morning is a mammoth task.

“By the time I go into the kitchen to get breakfast, I can be exhausted. I can’t just pop to the shops, it all has to be planned.”

Mandy has a specially adapted hand-controlled car so she can still get out to meet friends and go round for a coffee and a chat.

“I try to lead a normal life but I do get frustrated,” she says. “The worst thing about my condition is that my mobility is getting worse and I have no control over it.”

When Mandy was born doctors gave her a week to live.

Her left leg was three inches longer than her right, and both were out of proportion. No one knew what her condition was or how to treat it.

Despite the odds, Mandy proved everyone wrong and at 18 months she began walking.

“I could never run as fast as my friends but I was still outside playing. I also learned to ride a bike but I kept the stabilisers on until I was 16.

“It’s embarrassing now when I think about it, but I didn’t care then,” she says laughing. “My legs started to grow when I was really small. I saw a lot of doctors, then when I was seven, one specialist told my mum I should have my legs amputated.”

Mandy’s mother June, 57, was horrified by the doctor’s suggestion and argued if her daughter could still run and play with friends there was no need to have her legs cut off.

“Mum was brave to stand up to the consultant. My parent’s have always been supportive and told me that I can do whatever I want to do.

“They realise that they won’t always be here and have encouraged me to be independent, so at 19 I left to live on my own.

“I was a normal teenager – I went out drinking, clubbing and ended the night with a kebab.”

After college Mandy went to the University of Central Lancashire where she gained a BSc in psychology.

“I’ve got a quick mind but a full-time job would exhaust me,” she explains. “But I like to make the most of life.”

She talks to friends over the internet every day and is in the middle of writing a book about her life.

She even finds the energy to head to the local RSCPA rescue centre once a week to clear out the rabbit hutches.

But her health keeps getting worse.

She has suffered arthritis, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and had a blood clot in her leg. She was paralysed from the waist down for two months.

“I had to learn to walk again which took three months,” she says.

“Three years later I bumped my leg and got a blood infection, then my kidneys then failed and I got MRSA.

“In all this time and during all of my visits to hospitals, I’ve never been given a definite diagnosis, except to be told it could be a form of this Proteus syndrome.

“No doctor has been investigated to any degree. I was beginning to believe I was the only woman in the world with it.”